Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky

If you keep kosher and have a diverse group of friends and dining partners, it seems inevitable that you will at some point have to explain yourself. Kosher can be complicated, and of course a 3,000-year-old practice will never be as fashionable as the diet du jour. Then again, Paleo came back from the Stone Age, but I digress.

Inequality being what it is, the lucky 1% either inherited or somehow acquired an aptitude for the clever comeback. That leaves the rest of us with the useless skill of ruminating over a missed comeback for days, only to come up with the perfect response just in time to beat ourselves up for the delay.

So we’ve consulted with Marty Nemko, award-winning career coach, radio personality and Psychology Today contributor, for bulletproof answers to common questions about keeping kosher.

1. What does it mean to keep kosher?

SHORT, SERIOUS ANSWER: It means following a set of dietary laws, he explains, including but not limited to the following: “We don’t eat meat with milk, and we avoid shellfish and pork. It’s a tradition with its roots in religion as well as rationality, because in ancient times, food preservation wasn’t what it is and shellfish kept poorly, for instance.”

MORE EFFECTIVE RETORT: “For the same reason Christians eat those fruit cakes with green things in them.” Nemko explains: “This answer is inclusive rather than defensive. It’s a way of saying I’m not weird, every religion has its own seemingly random or inexplicable traditions.”

CONCISE COMEBACK: “Like Hebrew National Hotdogs, we answer to a higher authority.”

2. Does this mean you’re, like totally Orthodox?

Click here for your answer options.

"Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief"

You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.

And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.

That’s where you come in. Gifts of any size keep the Forward free and accessible to everyone and ensure we have the resources we need to power the Forward at this critical time for American Jews.

Don't just read the Forward - invest in it. That’s only possible thanks to the support of readers like you. Will you support our work today?

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$120 $180 $360 OTHER AMOUNT